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The recent earth-quake in Haiti has stirred the spirit of many, many CSS

students and teachers. As Cana-dians, Calgarians, and particu-larly as members of the CSS com-munity, we have a tremendous reputation for humanitarianism. We step to the fore when we rec-ognize others in dire need of our help. The students and staff at the school are planning a series of educationally based fundraising activities, all to take place in one afternoon in February, that will al-low us to contribute as a school to the horrible tragedy that Haiti is living through. We are calling the fundraising campaign Hearts for Haiti. More details with follow in the coming days, but we hope to once again provide our stu-dents the opportunity to make a positive difference for those in the world who are truly in need.

In this newsletter you will learn-about the retirement of our Su-perintendent, Gordon Welch, who is leaving the feild of education

after more than 40 years of service to students in Alberta and Atlan-tic Canada. Gordon’s wisdom, his perspective, his humour, and his no-nonsense approach to educa-tion will be greatly missed. On a personal note, I want to say how thankful I am to have enjoyed the mentorship of Gordon over the past few years. It is not the norm that a Principal has such close contact and association with their Superintendent, but here at CSS I have benefitted immensely from our close working relationship. I have been incredibly fortunate to spend much of my early career in school administration under Mr. Welch’s tutelage and I thank him for that gift.

The last item I want to touch on in this Principal’s message is regard-ing fine arts. I have paid a lot of attention to the fine arts in pre-vious newsletters and at council meetings. I want to clarify why so much attention has been paid to these subjects in a charter school that is not fine arts based. First, the arts are integral to a well-

rounded education. Not only are there cognitive benefits to having students study fine arts, but we hope to instill in our students an appreciation for the arts and the role they play in our society. We have undergone some restructur-ing in order to highlight the arts and provide more student choice; the successful implementation of those changes requires consistent and open communication. Addi-tionally, there have been a num-ber of changes proposed at the provincial level to how the arts are offered in schools. I encourage all parents to make yourselves aware of the proposed changes, as the implications might be substantial for all schools in Alberta. More in-formation can be found at http://education.alber ta.ca/teachers/program/finear ts/program-up -dates.aspx. If you have any ques-tions about the fine arts program at CSS, please contact me.

Sincerely,Darrell Lonsberry

Principal’s Message

THE CALGARY SCIENCE SCHOOL

FEBRUARY 2010 • ISSUE 6 • VOL . 7

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Principal’s Message..........................1Message From Your Superintendent......................2Message From The Board............3Upcoming Parent Sessions.........32010-2011 Registration Information & Guidelines.............4Acountability Pillar Surveys...........5Message from your Volunteer Development Committee..............5Message from your Fine Arts Team..................................6AISI Cyle Four Update...................7Transportation Update..................8Library Report...................................8Girls Leadership..........................9Grade 8 Students Get Political......9Gr 5 Winter Camps.........................10Peace Festival...............................10Phys. Ed Update............................11Volunteerism..............................11Update from Mr Mcwilliian......12Drama Dance Update...................12Lego Robotics.................................16February Calendar.......................18March Calendar............................19

For the past three and one half years I have been honored to be the Superintendent of CSS.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and I have been so impressed by the commitment and support that parents provide to ensure the school’s ongoing success.

However, after 45 years of involve-ment in public education I have decid-ed that it is time for a change. There-fore, January 30th will be my last day as Superintendent. I think a change will be beneficial to me personally as well as the school.

I am pleased to inform you that the Board of Directors has appointed Dr. Garry McKinnon to be your new Su-perintendent. Garry holds Ed.D. from Brigham Young University as well as a Masters Degree from the University of Alberta.

Dr. McKinnon brings a wealth of expe-rience to the Calgary Science School. He was the Superintendent of Schools

in the Golden Hills School Division from 1994 to 2003. Since then he has worked extensively at the Uni-versity of Calgary teaching a variety of courses on involving leadership development and inquiry based learning.

Garry brings to CSS a real passion for leadership development, inqui-ry based learning and promoting the potential for partnerships with other organizations including uni-versities. He is undoubtedly one of the best known and respected edu-cators in this province.

Please join me in welcoming Garry to CSS.

Thanks to all of you for your sup-port and dedication to this school. Working at CSS has been a wonder-ful way to end my career in public education.

All the best!Gordon Welch

We need 40 judges for The 10th Annual CSS Science Fair.

Date: Monday, February 8th

Time: 8.00 am - 1.00 pm

Training will be provided.Perks:

Coffee & donuts in the morning & lunch!

If you are interested please contact Jon Hoyt-Hallet at: jon.h@calgaryscienceschool.com

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I wanted to thank Gordon Welch on behalf of the Board for a wonderful three years of involvement with the CSS community. The Superintendent role

is really like that of the CEO of a corporation. They oversee school operations on a daily basis by acting as the link between our Board and the administra-tive team at the Calgary Science School. In addi-tion, the Superintendent is our pipeline to Alberta Education and the Minister of Education. You can imagine that this position is really a bit of a balanc-ing act with many different stakeholders looking for information and satisfaction, often at the same time. Gordon’s charming personality and contacts within Alberta Education have helped us tremendously on all of these fronts. It has been an honour and privi-lege to have worked with an educator of Gordon’s caliber and dedication. He unwaveringly put the stu-dents first and has done a wonderful job of helping set the Board visions into daily practice at the school.

I for one am envious of Gordon’s grandchildren who will now be the beneficiary of a wonderful full time grandpa! Good luck Gordon in all of your future endeavors and leave knowing that you have really made a difference in the lives of all those associated with the Calgary Science School.

At the same time, the Board feels tremendously privileged to have attracted Dr. Garry McKinnon as our new Superintendent. We are looking forward to forging a long and fruitful relationship with Dr. McK-innon. His background and passions will go a long way to further inspiring our educators along roads into inquiry based learning in addition to building upon our strengths in outdoor education and tech-nology.

Dave Robinson

Date Event Details LocationWednesday February 17 7 pm

Computer Gaming Addiction *Many parents wonder and worry about the extent to which their children en-gage in online, interactive, or stand alone computer gaming. Hana Mancuso, a psychologist with considerable expertise in the treatment of addictions, will help explore the myths and realities of gaming and what parents need to know in order to make informed decisions around access and control of gaming tech-nology.

Library

Wednesday February 247 pm

Kids and Drugs Program – Session #4What Parents Need to Know About DrugsThe concluding session in the Kids and Drugs Program will help tie together the information necessary to keep children and youth safe and drug aware through the teen years.

Library

Wednesday March 177 pm

Emotional Intelligence *Ensuring that youth develop and maintain a capacity to manage stress and anxi-ety is an important component of parenting. Jo-Ann Pawliw, Manager of the Calgary Emotional Fitness Institute, will share information and strategies to en-hance resiliency among children and adults alike, focusing on recognizing indi-vidual emotional strengths and vulnerabilities to create an internal tool kit of resources to manage all that life has to offer.

Library

* Please RSVP to phil.b@calgaryscienceschool.com

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Current CSS Students & Siblings Students new to CSS in 2010-11Re-registration opens on Monday March 1, 2010 Registration opens on Monday March 8, 2010

Re-registration closes on Sunday March 14, 2010 Registration closes on Sunday March 14, 2010

Busing registration and fee payment – early bird deadline April 18, 2010

(The Board will set Transportation fees during the budgeting process. Every effort will be made to

maintain fees at current levels)

Busing registration and fee payment deadline April 18, 2010, OR when offered a position at CSS after

April 18, 2010.

Please mark your calendars with the important registration dates below. Note that returning CSS students AND siblings will register at the same time, while new students begin registration a week later. There have been a few changes to the information required for re-registration; please read all aspects of the on line docu-ment before submitting. Please contact the office if you have any difficulty registering on line.

Important: It will be assumed that any current students who are not re-registered, including payment of fees, by Sun-day March 14, 2010 are not planning to return to CSS and those spots will be offered to other students on the wait list. Please contact the office if you have any questions or wish to discuss any extenuating circum-stances.

Completion of the on line registration process takes approximately 20 minutes. It is very important that all sections of the document are completed thoroughly and accurately in order to avoid delays in registration.

Phil Butterfield

1. Go to the school’s website at www.cal-garyscienceschool.com

2. Click on the login button in the top right hand corner of the page.

3. Click on ‘Login as Family’.

4. Enter your username and password – your username is typically an e-mail address. You can retrieve your password by clicking on the ‘Forgot Your Password?’ link.

5. Once you have accessed the secure family zone, follow the instructions on the pages as you work your way through the regis-tration and fee payment process.

Notice of Parent Council Meeting Feb 03 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pmPOT LUCK RESOURCE NIGHT

Bring your favourite appetizer and your choice of parent resource material: magazine, article, book to share with others. Be prepared to give a brief presentation (1-3 minutes) on the resource material that you bring in. The parent corner will then pull together a resource list for all to access and the library may even order some of the resources/

books for parents to borrow in the future.

Please RSVP your attendance to:

Wendy Baillie @ bailliew@shaw.ca

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You may have recently seen newspaper arti-cles on Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs) or changes to the Grade 12 Diploma Exams. Both

PATs and Diploma Exams contribute to the Account-ability Pillar, a tool used by Alberta Education to evaluate how well the education system is meeting the expectations of parents and the public. All par-ents want to know that their children are receiving a quality education. Grades are important but there is more to it than that. A quality education helps all children make the most of their talents and abilities.

The Accountability Pillar uses a set of 16 indicators consisting of surveys of students, parents and teach-ers on various aspects of quality; student outcomes such as dropout and high school completion rates; and provincial assessments of student learning.

From January to the end of February, Alberta Edu-cation will be conducting the annual Accountabil-ity Pillar Survey. In January, parents of students in grades 4-12 will receive a survey from Alberta Edu-cation. In February, students in grades 4-12 and all teachers will be completing their surveys online at school.

Accountability Pillar Surveys

All surveys are anonymous and ask questions about experiences with this school. In addition to English and French, the parent survey is available in Manda-rin, Cantonese, Punjabi, Arabic, Blackfoot, Cree, Ko-rean, Spanish and Tagalog.

As an annual check-up on the education system, the Accountability Pillar provides an opportunity for Al-berta Education and school authorities to ensure that we’re equipping students for success. Your participa-tion in the survey helps, so we encourage you to re-turn your survey promptly.

Survey results will be available to school authorities in May 2010, and will be reported publicly by school authorities as part of their 3-Year Education Plans and Annual Education Results Reports.

Darrell Lonsberry

The Volunteer Development Committee has been very busy this month and we are thrilled with the re-sponse from parents. We are hoping to get a webpage for volunteers ready in the coming months so par-ents can check regularly to see what volunteer opportunities are available.

We are currently in need of a volunteer to help with the science lab. This job would involve cleaning out the beakers/test tubes and organizing the chemicals. They also have a terrarium that needs to have the glass repaired and are looking for anyone who might have a contact in the glass repair business that could give us a deal on having it repaired.

We also have a need in the drama department. Ms. Peebles is looking for someone who can author a DVD that would showcase past performances. Once created, the DVD could be available in the library for parents to sign out.

If you are able to help out please email us at volunteers.css@gmail.com.

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A Message from your Fine Arts TeamThe Fine Arts teaching team is very excited to be implementing digital portfolio assessment. With the introduction of portfolios, we have moved away from traditional reporting in the form of report cards. As this is the pilot year of this initiative, the structure, technique and organization is still in the developmental stage and your patience is appreci-ated. Assessment can be formative, on-going, or summative, at the end of each reporting period. As some classes are by semester, and others are by tri-mester, the summative assessment dates will vary. Communication is an essential component of digi-tal portfolios, in order to provide feedback through-out the creative learning process. Many forms of feedback will be used in the evaluative process to encourage students to enhance and develop their learning in the fine arts. As a parent your role in this process is to review and reflect with your child on the contents of their portfolio. This includes writing comments, initiat-ing in-depth conversation and providing feedback in the student’s portfolio. Your child will be knowl-edgeable in the different methods of sharing and posting your feedback, including, but not limited to: podcasts, blog, movies, audio recordings, and written reflections. For further clarification on spe-cific project expectations, please regularly check for updates on class websites or your child’s digital

portfolio. You may now access your child’s portfolio using your own login.

Students will be part of this process through self-re-flection and peer assessment. They will be held ac-countable for all comments and reflections they post on their own and peer portfolios. Student portfolios will record all comments and posts from any user, therefore all feedback should be well thought out and in an appropriate and respectful manner. Cri-tiques are essential for growth, as constructive criti-cism is encouraged in order to provide students with helpful information on how to improve. Periodic as-sessment of the digital portfolio will now be done us-ing the information listed below.

Portfolios are currently password protected and only accessible to CSS users. We have now added an up-dated feature that allows your child to decide who sees their portfolio work. This is for security pur-poses to ensure we are abiding by FOIP standards. Should you have any concerns about any comments posted on your child’s portfolio, please contact their teacher. We look forward to working with you and your child to develop an interactive and holistic digi-tal portfolio.

The Fine Arts Team

“A portfolio is a systematic collection of student work that outlines both specific achievements, accomplish-ments, and reflection of their own progress over a period of time. It includes instructional goals and specific examples of students work within the context of guidelines provided by the teacher. With the help of tech-nology students can store audio recordings, video, photographs, and samples of written work. This is done with the use of computers, portable digital records, digital camcorders, and digital cameras.”

“Portfolios provide a more individualized approach to assessment as students can be evaluated both as individuals based on individual growth, and within the context of curricular goals. Reflections on growth encourage students to consider their own learning process and view assessment as a part of learning, rather than an arbitrary mark given by the teacher. A well-designed portfolio can easily demonstrate learning out-comes that can’t be represented by a simple mark on a report card or comment form the teacher. Report cards are good periodic symbolic representations and brief summaries of students learning but digital port-folios are an on-going representation of students work that can be visited all the time.”

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“An important part of the portfolio process is self-reflection. Peer, parental and teacher evaluation can also be included as part of the portfolio process. This approach helps students take ownership of their own learn-ing and to value the learning process. It also encourages students to consider the reactions of others to their work.”The above article is written by Kelly Demoline, a music educator and president of Kelly’s Music & Computers. It is regarding the implication and reasons for use of digital portfolio assessment in the classroom entitled “Using Portfolio Assessment in Music Education”.

1. Go to the website: http://wiki.calgaryscienceschool.com (please make sure you don’t add the www. or the link will not work correctly.)2. Once you are on the CSS blog home page, click on the button labeled “Blogs”3. Login using student’s login name and password4. Click on the button “Log in” in the top left hand corner and log in using your login name and password.5. To get to student’s blog click on the button labeled “Create my blog” or “Go to my blog” – it is on the right

hand side of the page.

Please note: Ms. Peebles, Ms. Emin and Mr. Bolen have their blogs setup as an example or guideline for stu-dent’s to refer to, to help them with the process of setting up each portfolio blog entry. Search their names to find them, specifically “Amy Peebles”, “Lorrie Emin” or “Andrew Bolen”. They also provide examples in class for students to refer to. If you have any questions please feel free to email us at amy.peebles@calgaryscienc-eschool.com or lorrie.e@calgaryscienceschool.com or andrew.b@calgaryscienceschool.com or contact us at the school.

Please check back frequently as student’s should be updating their digital portfolios regularly.

AISI Cycle Four Update“…[T]he key question is, ‘What information provides the most accurate description of students’ learning at this time?” (Guskey, 1996, 21). Exploring the implications of Guskey’s key question is what guided our professional development during our last two professional days. Teachers have been considering the vital question of what constitutes evidence of student learning and, perhaps even more importantly, how we communicate evidence of that learning to our students and their parents. This consideration ties in well with AISI Cycle Four Goal #3 that has teachers developing, collecting and analyzing exemplars of student work.

Perhaps the most pressing question that we considered is “what types of information provide the most accurate descrip-tion of student learning?” When we discussed this question, we also discussed what a student’s role is in communicating what s/he is learning, what place a zero has when communicating student achievement, and what we should do when a student fails to complete an assessment task. In other words, we are trying to ensure that students and parents always know what their grades or marks mean in terms of reflecting what it is that students have learned.

This beginning exploration led to some fruitful conversation about our assessment practices and how best we can answer a parent’s most pressing question: “So, how’s my kid doing?” Jenn Woodard

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Transportation NewsUpdate on Late Bus Message System1. Confirm your subscription. Please log into your fam-

ily account and make sure you are signed up to receive messages if want them. After you log in, choose “Bus Subscriptions” from the Family Zone box on the right. Enter any missing information and correct any inaccu-rate information. If your correct information is there and you are not receiving messages, please let us know by email, transportationatcss@gmail.com.

2. Understand the system. This year, Southland is re-sponsible to post messages to the CSS website, trigger-ing texts and emails to those who have subscribed as well as displaying the message on the home page of the CSS site. This replaces the system we used last year that relied on students to post the messages. The student system had variable results and the limitations of the Southland system are emerging:

• The drivers need to let dispatch know that they are running late. Cherilyn has asked Brent Storey, R9 driver and our bus captain, to remind the drivers that we expect that.

• On days when city wide traffic is slow, the drivers may have difficulty getting through to dispatch and so there will be no message.

• Once dispatch gets the message they pass it on to be posted. On busy days the message may not be posted in a timely manner.

• Southland does not usually post anything until the bus is 15 min late. This is because when de-lays are less than 12 minutes the bus may get back on schedule and people who come at the later time will have missed the bus.

• Late buses in the afternoon are sometimes a prob-lem as our Southland rep has gone home for the day. We are working on this.

3. Apply Common Sense. If there is no reason to expect any delay, please call Southland, 403 287 1335, when your bus is 10 or 15 minutes late and you have no mes-sage. Either the bus will be along shortly or Southland needs to post a delay message. When traffic every-where is just crawling along, expect that your bus will be late and Southland will be busy. If the bus is 20 min-utes late and there is no message, phone Southland and enquire where the bus is on the route. You will need to know your route and stop number. Understand that their phone and radio systems may be overwhelmed. Everyone should have a back-up plan to cover any time the bus does not come on schedule.

When you miss the bus

If you miss the bus you can take your child to another stop. Please understand that you should get to the al-ternate stop in time to have your child waiting in the loading zone before the bus arrives. Go over your route sheet or look at the route maps on the bussing page, available by link on the CSS home page. Choose an al-ternate stop that you can get to before the bus arrives. Parents are never to block the bus or try to delay the driver in order for their child to board.

Looking Ahead to 2010/2011 School YearBoth the Transportation Committee and the CSS Board have begun planning for next year as well as looking to the future. Your voice is important and we will be seek-ing input from the parents. The system is a service for CSS families and your views are needed to decide how it is delivered. At this point, no decisions have been made as to how your opinions will be collected. The committee will send an email in February to update you on the plans for next year. Please watch for this.Transportation Comittee

As is our tradition at CSS, a Scholastic Book Fair was held during our November 2009 Student-led Confer-ence times, and parents and students came out in enthusiastic bunches to browse, select and purchase great new books for their own libraries.

The total sales were $2694! From the profit made from that amount, we selected 64 books to be added to our collection, valued at about $535.00. The re-maining funds from the profits earned- $373.00- is being donated to King’s Glory School in Uganda, Africa (Ms. Savoie’s Volunteerism Elective), as previ-ously announced.

Thank you to all parents and students who made this a celebration of books, a source of new books to en-joy in our library, and an opportunity to demonstrate generosity towards King’s Glory School in Uganda.

Our webpage continues to be revised, and I hope a source of good information for parents and students. Any feedback or suggestions you’d like to pass on to me will be most welcome.

Donna Johnson Alden, Teacher-Librarian

Library Report

The Girls’ Leadership Initiative began over a year ago when a few teachers put their heads together with an idea. Lat-er, student representatives from each class came together to talk about what the girls at CSS experience and what types of support they needed and interests they shared. In early December, two young women from the Cyber Mentoring program came to speak to the girls about the mentoring program and their work. Our leadership group was impressed to find out that one of these women de-signed and tested video games like ‘Need for Speed’ while the other was working towards acceptance into the as-tronaut program. The Cyber Mentoring program matches girls aged 11 to 18 with women in unique and exciting careers in order to answer questions, and provide support and encouragement. http://www.cybermentor.ca/Home.aspx

At the December potluck, Jenna and Katelyn presented the ideas of Jennifer De Groot from her book ‘Peace Is’ about the challenges that women face around the world, just meeting their basic needs.

A recent survey identified interests and activities that the Leadership girls wanted to bring to the rest of the girls in the school. Results will be compiled and activities or-ganized to involve all interested girls at CSS. Thanks to everyone who helped get this important Initiative off the ground!

Emily Brown

GIRLSLeadership

Why do some cities during certain periods of time grow tremendously prosperous and become centers for an ex-plosion of scientific and artistic activity? Over the course of the last semester, we in Ms. Savoie and Mr. Scott’s grade eight humanities classes have been exploring ex-actly this question. Through our research of city-states such as Florence during the Italian Renaissance, we are seeking to find the qualities Calgary needs to become a Renaissance city.

On January 19th, the Calgary Alderman for Lakeview, Brian Pincott visited CSS and spoke to the grade eight students about Calgary’s potential as a Renaissance city. Through his discussion with our classes, along with the questions we posed, we discovered that there are two great obstacles that may stand in the way of Calgary be-coming a Renaissance city. The first of these is the fear many of us have of failure. As he explained, when we look back on the Renaissance, we only see the innova-tions that were successful such as the printing press or firearms. However, we don’t see the 90% of innovations that occurred that were failures. If we in Calgary wish to foster an environment where innovations flourish, we need to not only except failure, but also embrace it. This will then provide a climate where risk taking and creativ-ity can thrive. According to Brian another problem that Calgary faces is that we are a city of urban sprawl where our home, work, and leisure life are spread out all over the city. As he relates, it’s a city of boxes. We go from our box homes, into our box cars, we then drive to a bigger box where we work all day, in our cubicle, which is also a box. The problem with this is that the Renaissance was about interactions, connectivity and the spread of new ideas. His presentation really opened our eyes to some of the challenges we face if we wish to live in a Renais-sance city.

J.H (8.1), W.A (8.1), and E.P (8.1)

Calgary:Renaissance City or Medieval Village?

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Grade 5 Winter CampsThe Grade 5’s were very fortunate to have had the oppor-tunity to go snowshoeing up at Camp Sweet earlier this month. The timing of the trip was perfect as it took advan-tage of the great snow conditions prior to the warm spell we have recently enjoyed. 5.1 and 5.2 went first and had to deal with colder temperatures, but enjoyed the trip none-theless and came away with some great memories. 5.3 and 5.4 enjoyed a seasonably warm day with plenty of sunshine, although a few students still managed to get snow in their boots and have cold toes. Both groups were very lucky to have had the pleasure of singing camp songs around the fire with Mr. Sweet, who as always was there with his guitar. The fire in the teepee helped warm everyone, as a few rounds of hot chocolate were passed around by the wonderful parent volunteers. Snowshoeing was the real purpose of the trip and so after lunch, both groups were guided on a fun walk around the property, disappearing into the forest for a quick game of camouflage and generally having a really fun day in the snow! This was another great day at CSS and hopefully provided students with some wonderful memories associ-ated with a unique winter trip to Camp Sweet! A big thank you goes out to Ms. O who put this trip together, to the par-ent volunteers who came along and to Mr. Sweet for making Camp Sweet such a “Sweet” experience for the students.

Mr. Neil

Peace Festival

The peace festival has always been an important part of CSS tradition. This year the volunteerism elective contributed a lot of effort to help put this event together. The theme for this year’s peace festival was “Community Heartbeat”. It consisted of a series of stations that brought forward our school commu-nity. The volunteerism elective ran four stations spreading awareness of the global community. These stations included “Music Around The World”, “Pen-ny Drive”, “Jeopardy” and “Friendship Key Chains”. “Music Around The World” played songs from different cultures and encouraged people to guess what countries the songs were from. This helped students to develop a better un-derstanding of different cultures. At the “Penny Drive” station students would roll pennies that were collected prior to the peace festival to buy supplies for a small school in Africa called “Kings Glory School”. This initiative raised close to $1,500. The “Jeopardy” station included many different questions about global. The “Friendship Key Chains” station allowed each student to create two key chains; one for themselves and the other, which will be sent a stu-dent at “Kings Glory School”. Through all of these activities the volunteerism elective was able to raise awareness and connect our school community to others locally and around the world.

Y.K and E.K 9.3

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Phys Ed Update

The Grade 4 Field trip at The TRICO Leisure Centre took place before the Christmas Break. The activities included many fit-ness activities, swimming and broomball.

Thank you to all parent volunteers.

Last summer, Ms. Savoie and Ms. Coulliard visited Africa and spent time helping children and families. One of their stops was at The Kings Glory School in Uganda. They had a chance to interact with the students and share different teaching techniques with the teachers.

When school begun in August, there was a new grade 8 and 9 elective called Volunteerism. In this elective, students are given a chance to pursue and carry out their enjoyment for volunteering. We went on field trips to the Food Bank, Inn From The Cold, and the Glamorgan Mental Health Center, and organized fundraisers. Later, Ms. Savoie shared some photos with us of the people she met in Africa. We then had a chance to connect with them, as they became our pen pals.

Our pen pal’s name is Ssamanya Mwawebe (also knows as lit-tle Obama because he is so smart). We sent him a letter with detailed information of our lives and the way citizens live in Calgary. We wanted to know what it was like in Uganda and how our lifestyles differed from his. After many weeks, we re-ceived a letter back from him. He described a bit about the landscape, his appearance, and his family. We were blown away with how similar, yet different our lives are. Similar in the way that he is very family oriented and enjoys school yet dif-ferent because of the many obstacles that he faces everyday.

The volunteerism elective has exposed us to many new peo-ple and ways of life. We have learned so much in regards to how different people live and ways to get involved beyond the school. We look forward to continuing our relationship with our new friend from Uganda. R.S. and M.C. 9.4

Volunteerism

Peace Festival

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It was not all smoke and fire during this year’s Science Communication presentations. A lot of hard work and dedication paid off when the Science Club visited the University of Calgary, Telus World of Science - Calgary, and The Alberta Association of Public Charter Schools (TAAPCS) Conference in Red Deer to present some unique demonstrations.

This year’s Science Communication Club began in Oc-tober with students excited to try things that they had seen in the classroom, on the internet, or at a science center. With a little bit of time and help, these experi-ments were researched, chemicals and equipment were ordered, and a 30 minute show was put together to showcase the students’ knowledge of fires, combus-tion, redox reactions and other chemistry.

These last few months have kept this club busy with preparation, and, like all other extra curricular activi-ties, students were not given class time to develop their projects. This makes their accomplishment more im-pressive because all this work happened on their per-sonal time. While these students have learned a lot of

chemistry from this experience, it is far more valuable to these students to understand that science can be a fun and creative pursuit for them and others. Here is a testimonial from a current Science Communication Club member:

“So far I have loved science club. It is a great expe-rience. The experiments are extremely fun to do es-pecially when you have an awesome teacher like Mr. Cheng. The whole reason why I decided to join science club is because I really enjoyed the experiments that the kids performed last year, and thought that it would be a “blast” to join. Another amazing part about be-ing in science club is the theater part about it. During science club you get to travel and perform all around Calgary and even Red Deer. These trips are tons of fun because we get to show off all of our new acquired skills. Anyway if you are like me and love to try crazy experiments then science club is the place for you. All of us who joined this year really enjoyed these amaz-ing experiments and will be definitely joining science club next year. “ (S.L 8.1)

If you have any questions considering science club then please talk to Mr. Cheng.

Hello kids and parents from Yeppoon, Queensland. We arrived on New Years eve and have had an amazing week in the heat. Mr. Rooks has a great house very close to the main street which leads to the ocean. It is a short walk that we’ve done almost every day.

It took some time to get over the time dif-ference and get settled in, but with the help of Mr. Rooks’ family and friends here it has been an easy transition. As you can see in the picture, we have seen several of the Aussie animals and even got to feed and hold some of them at Cooberrie Park, which is only 15 minutes from our house. Today we went to Mt. Archer near Rockhampton and saw some Wallabies in the wild. I will get to see my new class on Monday. I’ll email another update soon.

Mr McWilliam

Our year in Yeppoon has begun!

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“Lego robotics is DEFINITELY my favourite elective this year. I would’ve thought programming a robot was something like rocket science, but that’s not true. All you have to do is drag a few icons here, select a few numbers there, and you have yourself a robot that will follow those direc-tions. But, you have to build that robot out of Lego. The fun part, though, is when you have to trouble-shoot. Adjusting and fine-tuning your program is so much fun. You get to explore the icons, the big special words nobody except teachers know, and do some calculations I never thought I’d do. You get to meet others who love to build with Lego, regardless of age. The best elective? Definitely.”

K.P (6.1)

Lego Robotics

“I think Lego robotics is an excellent elective, especially for peo-ple who love to build with Lego. That’s why I decided to go in Lego robotics. I love to build with Lego. I personally find it fun. And then making it into a robot makes it even more interesting. Lots of people in my elective class are very talented in Lego building. Lego can also be a challenge. My partner and I some-times get confused on where to put the Lego pieces. Although, once you have your robot doing what you tell it to, you really have lots of fun and you feel proud of yourself.”

A.H (6.3)

iConnectOur first extra-curricular dance recital was a smashing success! The students had an invaluable, experience based learning opportunity while performing at Lord Beaverbrook High School Theater on January 1, 2010. Thank you to everyone for all your support and dedica-tion towards CSS’ dance program. CSS dance students provided an excellent evening of dance, in a multitude of styles. Students ranging from grades 4-9 success-fully employed color, stage balance and a variety of dance styles through their exploration of performative dance. Dance students are now beginning the early preparations for our next dance celebration this spring, Lazer Dance.

Grade 5 Lunchbox TheatreThe grade 5 lunchbox theatre team was very efficient and creative while performing for many parents and stu-dents over the lunch hours from January 18-22, 2010. Thank you once again to everyone for all their support and donations to the food bank. This was a strong be-ginning for the lunchbox theatre program and I look for-ward to exploring other learning opportunities within the lunchbox theatre program for those students inter-ested in grades 4 and 6.

Miss Peebles

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1

PROSPECTIVE NEW PARENT ORIENTATION 7:00 PM !GYM"

2

PROSPECTIVE NEW PARENT ORIENTATION 7:00 PM !GYM"

3

SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING7:00 # 9:00 PM

4 5 6

BAND WORKSHOP9:00 AM

ENTRANCE LEVEL TESTING 10:00 AM

7 8

SCIENCE FAIR

9 10

GR 4/5 SSRP11:30 # 12:30 PM

PARENT INFO SESSION # COMPUTER GAMING ADDICTIONS7:00 # 9:00 PM

11 12 13

14 15

FAMILY DAY

16 17

SR GIRLS BASKETBALL 4:30 # 7:30 PMGYM

18 19 20

ENTRANCE LEVEL TESTING 10:00 AM

BAND FESTIVAL

21 22

SR BOYS BASKETBALL 4:30 # 7:30 PMGYM

23

GR 4/5 SSRP11:30 # 12:30 PM

24

DRUG AWARNESS SESSION #47:00 # 9:00 PM

25 26

ORGANIZATIONALDAY

NO CLASSES

27

28

February

DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6

DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4

DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 1 DAY 2

DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY1 DAY 2 DAY 3

Teacher’s Convention/Retreat

Gr 6.2 Winter Camp Gr 6.4 Winter Camp

Gr 6.3 Winter Camp

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DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5

DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 1

DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6

March

1 2

GR 5 & GR 9VACCINATIONS

3 4

GR 4/5 SSRP11:30 # 12:30 PM

5 6

ALTERNATIVE ENTRANCE TESTING DAY 10:00 # 12:00 PM

7 8

TERM 2 REPORT CARDS GO HOME

9

SPRING PHOTO DAY

10 11

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES4:00 # 8:00 PM

12

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES8:00 # 1:00 PM

13

14 15

GR 4/5 SSRP11:30 # 12:30 PM

16

4.1 SNOWSHOE TRIP

BOARD MEETING 5:00 # 8:00 PM

17

4.2 SNOWSHOE TRIP

PARENT INFO SESSION EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE7:00 PM LIBRARY

18

4.3 SNOWSHOE TRIP

19

4.4 SNOWSHOE TRIP

20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

DAY 6 DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4

DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 1

DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5

DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3

Spring Break - School Closed

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THE CALGARY SCIENCE SCHOOLFEBRUARY 2010 • ISSUE 3 • VOL . 7